Nato admits accidentally killing Afghan civilians
Nato admitted accidentally killing at least 27 Afghan civilians today, the third attack this month to have hit the wrong target.
Amid fears the deaths will alienate the very people they are trying to win over, top commander US General Stanley McChrystal apologised to Afghan president Hamid Karzai for the airstrike in the central Afghan province of Uruzgan yesterday.
The Afghanistan Council of Ministers strongly condemned the airstrike, calling it “unjustifiable.”
It said reports indicated that Nato planes fired at a convoy of three vehicles, among the victims were four women and a child.
Nato confirmed that its planes fired on what it believed was a group of insurgents, but later discovered their mistake.
The Interior Ministry said the attack hit three minibuses travelling on a major road near Uruzgan’s border with Day Kundi province.
“We are extremely saddened by the tragic loss of innocent lives,” Gen. McChrystal said. “I have made it clear to our forces that we are here to protect the Afghan people and inadvertently killing or injuring civilians undermines their trust and confidence in our mission. We will redouble our effort to regain that trust.”
The attack was not related to the ongoing offensive around the Helmand province town of Marjah, where US and Afghan forces have been battling the Taliban for nearly two weeks.
At least 16 civilians have been killed so far during the offensive, Nato said, although human rights groups say the number is at least 19. They include nearly a dozen people killed when two rockets struck a house on the outskirts of Marjah on the second day of the offensive.
Last Thursday, an airstrike in northern Kunduz province missed targeted insurgents and killed seven policemen.
Yesterday’s attack was the worst involving civilians since last September, when US pilots bombed two hijacked fuel tankers in a German-ordered airstrike near the northern town of Kunduz.
Up to 142 people are believed to have died or been injured.
Nato has tried to reduce civilian casualties – primarily through reducing airstrikes and tightening rules of engagement – as part of a new strategy to focus on protecting the Afghan people to win their loyalty over from the Taliban.
A total of 2,412 Afghan civilians were killed last year, the highest number in any year of the eight-year war, according to a UN report. But deaths attributed to Nato troops dropped nearly 30% as a result of new rules curbing airpower and heavy weapons when civilians are at risk, it said.
That strategy is facing a major test in Marjah, where Taliban have mingled with civilians in hope their enemy will hold fire.
Fighting in Marjah was less intense today than in previous days, a Marine spokesman said.
“There were fewer engagements between insurgents and the Marines and Afghan national security forces in town,” he said.
He said Nato forces were encouraged that more residents were reopening shops and that empty compounds were filling up with families that have returned.
New district leader Abdul Zahir Aryan flew into Marjah for the first time and held a shura, or meeting, with about 50 community elders.